Now streaming exclusively on Paramount+, season four of Mayor of Kingstown, created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, follows Mike McClusky (Jeremy Renner) as he navigates as a mediator between street gangs, the prison in Kingstown, and local law enforcement. Rick Hong, from We Live Entertainment, caught up with actress Necar Zadegan, who plays Evelyn Foley, the assistant district attorney for the city of Kingstown, to discuss the latest season and more.
Rick Hong/ We Live Entertainment: I love Taylor Sheridan, and so for you, I don’t know if it was a conversation or if it’s the proper channels of just like, “Hey, go audition for this thing, or go sit down and talk to Taylor.”?
Necar Zadegan: Thanks for your question; it was a pretty straightforward thing, as I recall. They sent me the script. I loved it. I thought the writing was excellent, just excellent. I auditioned, and they liked it, and it was kind of 1, 2, 3.
RH: Okay. So that pilot, not even what I was expecting, you know I was in, because I saw the talent that was a part of it, and then all of a sudden you get to the end, and I was like, “What?! What just happened here?!” Was it the same thing for you as you were reading the script, or did you already know?
Necar Zadegan: I know. That’s crazy, right? I do love it when shows are unafraid or unabashed, let’s say, about making those kinds of decisions. I started working in television on a show called 24, and they used to do that all the time. It’s courage in knowing that if you hold onto the viewer, they’ll hold onto you too, you know? I like that kind of writing. It was not just that, though, yeah, of course, that was a big surprise at the end, but the thing that really stuck out to me was just how cinematic the writing was in every scene. The way that the dialogue was allowing so much room to create, you know?
RH: Taylor seems like he’s the complete alpha male. He’s buff, he rides horses, he shoots guns, but he knows how to write for everybody, even writing for your character as a woman and everything.
Necar Zadegan: Yes! I think it just shows that these people are very complicated and nuanced, and that there’s a lot we have inside ourselves to give and to share with others. So I guess I never really thought about it that way. I was just really into his perspective. I was really into his way of seeing the characters. I was absolutely into the way he developed all the characters, mine included. It was very clear that he had a firm grasp of the characters, and we discussed it. Actually, Taylor and I talked about it before I started shooting. It was COVID back then when we started shooting, and so that did afford a kind of closeness that maybe otherwise doesn’t always exist at the time. You know, we had to get on the phone and talk ’cause we couldn’t get together. We talked about the character, and I was very, very impressed. They don’t always have every aspect of every character in their mind; that’s what you are hired to do. Often, as the actor, you come in and make it. I was very impressed with how much life already existed in this character, and he could give me a piece to build from.
RH: How have you liked the growth of your character, Evelyn? And also, every season, nobody is safe. So I’m just wondering as you turn the pages, if you’re just kind of, “Okay, am I good?” I actually worry for your character this season.
Necar Zadegan: There is a lot to worry about. This season, there should be fear for all the characters, and every season. But you know, that’s the reality of a world like this, too. And that’s what I love about it. You can’t have a world with this much danger and this much unpredictability and not have loss. There has to be. That’s the harsh reality of this very harsh world, and the fact that the writers write into it makes for high drama, and I’m really into it. Any character-driven piece should be, you know, the characters’ experience, all this stuff that’s happening around them. And it should change them and affect them, and it has. Evelyn’s come a long way. It might be a long way backward, but it’s still a long way, you know, in terms of her heart and in terms of her nervous system. It may not be, you know, progress in a particularly healthy direction, but it is progress nonetheless.
RH: I just wanted to tell you, congratulations again, and thank you for being a part of an amazing series. I don’t know what will happen, so I’m just gonna keep crossing my fingers and make sure that your character gets to the next season.
Necar Zadegan: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure talking with you. I love the show. Have a good one.
NEW EPISODES OF MAYOR OF KINGSTOWN AIR SUNDAYS ON PARAMOUNT+.
